U-shaped association between plasma sphingosine-1-phosphate levels and mortality in patients with chronic systolic heart failure: a prospective cohort study

The endogenous lipid molecule sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) has received attention in the cardiovascular field due to its significant cardioprotective effects, as revealed in animal studies. The purpose of our study was to identify the distribution characteristics of S1P in systolic heart failure patients and the prognostic value of S1P for long-term prognosis. We recruited 210 chronic systolic heart failure patients from June 2014 to December 2015. Meanwhile 54 healthy people in the same area were selected as controls. Plasma S1P was measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Patients were grouped according to the baseline S1P level quartiles, and restricted cubic spline plots described the association between S1P and all-cause death. Cox proportional hazard analysis was used to determine the relationship between category of S1P and all-cause death. Compared with the control group, the plasma S1P in chronic heart failure patients demonstrated a higher mean level (1.269 μmol/L vs 1.122 μmol/L, P = 0.006) and a larger standard deviation (0.441 vs 0.316, P = 0.022). Based on multivariable Cox regression with restricted cubic spline analysis, a non-linear and U-shaped association between S1P levels and the risk of all-cause death was observed. After a follow-up period of 31.7 ± 10.3 months, the second quartile (0.967-1.192 μml/L) with largely normal S1P levels had the lowest all-cause mortality and either an increase (adjusted HR = 2.368, 95%CI 1.006-5.572, P = 0.048) or a decrease (adjusted HR = 0.041, 95%CI 0.002-0.808, P = 0.036) predicted a worse prognosis. The survival curves showed that patients in the lowest quartile and highest quartile were at a higher risk of death. Plasma S1P levels in systolic heart failure patients are related to the long-term all-cause mortality with a U-shaped correlation. CHiCTR, ChiCTR-ONC-14004463. Registered 20 March 2014.